Latest / Reformed Thinking / Royal Roadwork: Repentance in the Shadow of the King (Matthew 3:1–6)

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Royal Roadwork: Repentance in the Shadow of the King (Matthew 3:1–6) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reformed thinking. We take God's Word and the best
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  theological reflection and go straight to the source material.
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  And today we're diving into a really pivotal passage, Matthew
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  chapter 3 verses one through 6. This is where things really kick
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  off publicly, wouldn't you say? The King's arrival is starting.
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  Yeah, absolutely. It's the Herald, John the
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  Baptist stepping onto the scene. So our goal today is to really
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  unpack the sources here. We want to look at the the
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  theological shape of what God is doing right.
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  Who is this king? Why the desert?
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  What does repentance really look like according to Scripture?
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  All that preparation needed for the Lord's arrival.
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  We're going to try and trace Matthew's structure.
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  Look at the sequence he lays out the setting, the summons, the
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  scripture, the sign, and then the response.
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  It's all very deliberate. You can see the blueprint God
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  doesn't work randomly. It makes me think of that old
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  analogy. You know, kings back then, they
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  never just showed up. That would be chaos.
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  They always sent work crews out ahead.
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  Road crews, yeah, during the way.
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  Exactly. Smoothing the ruts,
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  straightening the curves, making sure the royal procession could
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  move swiftly. And that's kind of what we're
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  looking at here, isn't it? The spiritual royal road work.
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  That's a great way to put it. What needs to happen in people's
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  hearts in the world before the King can properly proceed?
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  OK, let's get into this then. The sources really line up here.
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  Matthew's design is clearly intentional.
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  He's laying out this theology of preparation.
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  Preparation fit for the king himself.
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  And right away, there's this surprising element.
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  God doesn't start this renewal movement in Jerusalem.
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  You know, the temple, the center of religious life.
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  No, he bypasses all that, starts it out in the wilderness, that
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  location choice. It's not incidental, it's
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  theology written onto the landscape.
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  Understanding why it starts there is, well, it's pretty
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  critical. OK, so let's start right at the
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  beginning. Verse one.
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  Matthew uses this phrase to shift gears, doesn't he?
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  In those days, yeah. In those days, that phrase, it
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  carries a lot of weight. Narratively, it's Matthew's
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  signal we're moving on. Moving from Jesus's hidden
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  years. The infancy narratives.
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  Right, chapters one and two, which are relatively static now.
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  Boom public action. The Kingdom administration is
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  launching and it marks the sudden entrance.
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  Periginiti is the Greek of the main actor who sets the stage.
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  And that actor is John the Baptist.
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  It's interesting how Matthew introduces him not by his
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  family, not his background, but his title, John the Baptist.
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  That's deliberate, too. His whole identity is wrapped up
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  in his task. He is the Baptizer.
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  And that title, it's a scatological.
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  It signals the decisive moment is here.
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  The Baptizer like he's the definitive one for this moment.
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  Exactly. His action, the baptism.
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  It's a signpost pointing to the King's arrival.
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  The time of fulfilment is upon them.
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  That's why he gets that specific title.
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  And his mode of action? Also, just one keyword
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  Kordishian heralding proclaiming this isn't just casual
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  conversation. Oh, definitely not.
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  Kardishian's a loaded term. It brings to mind the Courics,
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  the official town crier, you know.
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  The one who announced decrees for the king.
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  Precisely in the Jewish context to the authorized messenger,
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  this person wasn't floating ideas, they were announcing A
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  decree from the sovereign. When John is Karishian, he's
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  issuing a royal decree. So the authority isn't his own,
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  it comes from the king he represents.
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  That's the point. The Kingdom comes by
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  proclamation, not negotiation. It's not a suggestion box.
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  It's a divine decree. You hear it, you believe it, you
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  obey it. Which immediately sets it apart
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  from, say, the legal debates happening elsewhere.
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  Hashtag tag tag Tag B. The theological geography of the
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  wilderness. OK.
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  So John arrives heralding this decree, but where he does it is
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  so specific. In the wilderness of Judea, the
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  sources say, this location is crucial, not just background
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  scenery. Absolutely crucial.
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  This is the mid bar, rocky, dry, inhospitable land stretching
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  down towards the Jordan and the Dead Sea.
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  Why there? Well, Matthew picks this spot
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  because it carries at least four big theological meanings.
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  It structures how we should expect this renewal to happen.
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  All right. Let's take the first one, the
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  old classroom of the Exodus. Yeah, think back historically.
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  The wilderness is where God took Israel to form them as a people,
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  tested them, taught them dependence. 40 years, right
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  manna from heaven. Exactly.
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  It was at the schoolhouse for humility.
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  So by starting Jesus's public ministry here, Matthew's
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  signaling a new exodus is beginning, God's restarting the
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  Lesson plan, calling a new people, demanding that same kind
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  of dependence. OK, second function.
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  It's a critique of the center that's powerful.
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  Isn't it? If the king is YHWH Raven, why
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  not start at the temple? That was his house, technically,
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  but by ministering outside Jerusalem, outside the temple
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  system, Matthew shows that renewal won't start within the
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  established religious structures.
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  It comes from the margins. Comes from the margins calling
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  the center itself to repent. It's a prophetic act, physically
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  separating from the status quo. So the location speaks volumes
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  before John even says much. OK, third function.
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  The desert is, well, humbling. It strips everything away,
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  doesn't it? No comforts, no human
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  credentials matter out there. No polished temple courts, no
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  fancy robes, no status based on your family line.
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  Anyone can go, no entry fee. Right.
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  No priestly pedigree needed, No temple tax.
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  The King's Road starts where our own resources just run out.
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  It forces dependence on God alone.
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  The desert is designed to level pride.
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  And the fourth function, it's a public pulpit, keeps it from
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  being some private, mystical thing.
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  Exactly. It's not about escaping into
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  solitude for some secret knowledge.
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  This is a public stage. People traveling through the
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  region would see and hear him. God is summoning a people out
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  here. It connects back to the old
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  prophets standing outside the halls of power.
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  Yeah, speaking from the margins to the whole nation, it's
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  public, authoritative proclamation from an unexpected
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  place. Hashtag Hashtag Tab C The
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  symbolism of the Jordan River and.
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  Tied right into the wilderness is the specific spot, the Jordan
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  River. That's where the baptizing
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  happens. And that river, well, it's
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  loaded with history for Israel. Oh, profoundly loaded.
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  The Jordan is a threshold. Remember Joshua?
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  Israel crossed the Jordan to enter the Promised Land.
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  Right, leaving the wilderness behind.
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  So it represents that boundary judgment.
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  The wandering behind them promise inheritance ahead.
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  To stand at the Jordan is to stand right there at that
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  dividing line. So the baptism happening there
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  adds another layer of meaning. It does.
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  The Jordan was also where Naman was cleansed, where prophetic
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  power was transferred. So when people come out to John,
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  stand in that river, get washed, it's a huge public statement.
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  They're putting themselves back at the starting line of their
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  covenant history, in a way. Yes, it's like saying we need a
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  fresh start. The old ways, the establishment,
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  they haven't worked. We renounce it.
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  It's a pledge of new allegiance because the king is coming near.
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  So more than just washing off dirt.
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  Much more. It's acknowledging judgement
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  behind mercy ahead, renouncing the old path, pledging a new
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  direction. The location makes the symbol of
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  baptism even richer. It's a decisive turn.
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  OK, now we get to the core of John's message.
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  Verse 2, the royal summons itself.
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  It's incredibly compact, isn't it?
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  It just punches right through repent, for the Kingdom of
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  heaven has drawn near. Crisp causal covers everything
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  and the Greek structure is key. How so?
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  You have the command, the imperative Metenoit.
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  Repent and it's immediately followed by Gargar.
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  That little word means for or because it gives the reason why
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  you must repent. The command comes first, then
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  the reason. Repent because the Kingdom is
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  near. Exactly.
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  The Kingdom's arrival is the cause, the grounds for the
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  command. Now, before we hit the cause,
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  let's nail down that command. I don't know it.
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  The sources highlight it's a present imperative plural.
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  What does that tell us? Crucial details for our reformed
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  understanding present tense means it's not a one time act,
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  but continuous, an ongoing action, an ongoing way of life,
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  a gate. Like a continuous turning.
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  Yes, and plural means he's addressing the whole community,
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  not just individuals in isolation.
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  It's a corporate call for an ongoing turn around, not just
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  feeling sorry once. So what is this genuine
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  repentance then, if it's ongoing?
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  Well, First off, our Reformed view, drawing from Scripture
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  like the Westminster Confession summarizes, sees it as a gospel.
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  Grace. Repentance unto life, the
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  confession calls it. A gift from God, not something
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  we drum up ourselves to earn favor.
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  Precisely. It's the Spirit working in US,
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  enabling us to respond to the King's nearness.
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  It's not the precondition we meet to get the Kingdom.
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  God gives the repentance. OK, so if it's a grace, what
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  does it actually involve? How is it different from just,
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  you know, worldly sorrow? It has to be a God work change
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  of mind. That's the metanoia.
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  Change of mind that must result in a concrete change of
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  direction in life. Two sides, always.
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  Inward and outward. Exactly.
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  Inward renovation, changing your thinking, your heart, feeling
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  godly sorrow for offending the king, hating the sin itself, and
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  outward transformation, visible new obedience, actually turning
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  away from the sin, pursuing righteousness.
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  Both are essential. The source is also stress when
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  it's not. Oh yeah, it's definitely not
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  Roman Catholic repentance doing things to pay off sin.
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  Repentance doesn't earn forgiveness, it receives the
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  grace of life and turns toward the giver.
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  OK, and it's not just vague sadness or feeling bad you got
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  caught. Nor is it just modifying
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  behavior while leaving the root idols untouched.
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  The change has to go deep. Mind, heart, feet.
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  New theology, new affections, new direction.
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  So the command is repent, the reason, the fuel for it, for the
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  Kingdom of heaven has drawn near.
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  Which brings us to Matthew's specific phrase there.
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  Kingdom of Heaven, Yeah, that's Matthew's go to phrase.
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  It's a respectful way of saying Kingdom of God, but it also
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  stresses where this Kingdom. Comes from from heaven, Divine
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  origin, Divine authority not cooked up on earth, right?
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  It's God's royal rule breaking into history through the King,
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  and that verb Matthew uses for has drawn near unji can.
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  It's in the perfect tense that's significant.
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  Why the perfect tense? It signals an arrival at the
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  threshold that has ongoing effects.
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  The Kingdom isn't just coming someday.
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  It has arrived at the door and is pressing in now.
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  Its arrival is a present reality with lasting consequences.
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  It's not just news to consider. No, it's authority to submit to
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  right now. The King's nearness demands
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  immediate allegiance. That's the force of John's
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  message. And the ultimate reason the
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  Kingdom is near is unpacked right in verse 3.
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  Matthew hits us with a firm of formula.
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  Yeah, this is the absolute anchor for the whole section,
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  Matthew says. For this is he who was spoken of
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  by Isaiah the prophet, saying that formula tells you God is
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  working his plan following the script he already wrote in
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  Scripture. It ties John, and implicitly
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  Jesus, right back to prophecy. Makes them part of a living
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  script. Now the quote itself is Isaiah
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  40 verse 3, and it immediately clarifies John's role.
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  How so? While the prophecy is about
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  preparing the way of the Lord Hocurios, in the Greek
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  Septuagint translation Matthew likely used, John is identified
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  as the voice doing the preparing.
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  A voice crying out Temporary, pointing to someone.
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  Else exactly. It's a crucial but subordinate
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  role. He's the forerunner.
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  His authority comes from the scripture he's fulfilling.
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  He points beyond himself to the one whose way he prepares.
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  He's the signpost, not the destination.
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  But the real bombshell here, the foundational claim, is about who
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  John is preparing the way for. This is it in the original
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  Hebrew of Isaiah 40.3. That word Lord is not just any
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  Lord, it's the covenant name of God Himself.
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  YHWH, Yahweh. Wow.
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  And the parallel line in Isaiah 40 says make straight in the
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  desert a highway for our God. So Matthew is very deliberately
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  taking a text about the glorious physical arrival of YHWH, the
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  God of Israel, and. Applying it to Jesus.
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  Yes, quietly, but unmistakably. For his Jewish readers, steeped
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  in monotheism, this would be breathtaking.
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  The King whose arrival? John Harold's is YHWH stepping
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  onto the stage of human history. So the King is God himself,
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  Emmanuel, God with us. That's the high Christology of
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  this passage. Texts about YHWH's arrival fit
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  Jesus because Jesus is YHWH Incarnate, the highway being
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  prepared. It belongs to the Lord, and that
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  Lord is Jesus of Nazareth. Which explains the absolute
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  nature of the call to repent. You're preparing for God
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  Himself. It raises the stakes infinitely.
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  This confirms the full deity of Christ as our confession state.
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  Matthew gives us textual proof right here.
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  The King is the eternal God, the divine sovereign.
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  Hashtag tag Tag say repentance as moral road work.
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  OK, if the king is YHWH coming in the flesh, then the
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  preparation needed isn't just, you know, rolling out a red
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  carpet. It's deep spiritual
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  reconstruction. Exactly.
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  And that road work metaphor from Isaiah, leveling mountains,
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  filling valleys, straightening paths, becomes key to
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  understanding what repentance actually does.
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  How does that metaphor play out? Well, first it corrects a huge
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  misunderstanding. John is not preparing our way to
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  God like repentance is US building a ladder to climb up to
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  him by our own effort. No, He's preparing God's way to
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  us. Grace is moving towards sinners,
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  but our sin, our pride, these are like boulders and potholes
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  blocking the King's path. Repentance clears the way for
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  him. So the physical landscape in
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  Isaiah becomes a picture of the human heart and will.
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  Precisely. The topography is a parable.
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  Those mountains and hills, That's our pride, our
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  self-sufficiency, our arrogance. They need to be levelled by
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  humility and valleys, maybe despair or self pity, or places
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  where faith is lacking. They need to be filled in,
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  raised up with trust in God's promises.
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  And the crooked places. Those are our twisted motives,
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  our dishonest ways, our affections bent towards sin
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  instead of God. They need to be straightened out
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  by truth, by aligning our lives with God's Word.
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  So John with his sharks call to repent.
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  He's like the the spiritual Rd. grader.
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  That's a good image. He's like audible sandpaper
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  smoothing the path. His job is to call Israel to
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  deal with the obstructions, the hypocrisy, the pride, so the
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  Lorde procession isn't hindered. Repentance is actively removing
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  those blockages, yielding the right of way to the King in our
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  lives. Before Matthew tells us how
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  people responded, he pauses. In verse four, he gives us these
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  details about John, what he wore, what he ate.
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  Why is that lifestyle detail so significant?
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  It's all about authentication, about credibility.
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  John's life had to match his message, the sources show.
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  His authority rested on this three legged stool, his calling
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  defined by scripture, his character, his life backed it up
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  and his content, the message itself, was from God.
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  OK, let's look at his clothes first.
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  Camel's hair leather belt that rings a bell prophetically
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  doesn't. It.
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  Oh, absolutely. It's a deliberate echo of
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  Elijah. Second, Kings 1.8 describes
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  Elijah almost exactly the same way.
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  And Malachi predicted Elijah would come before the great day
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  of the Lord. Great, so by looking like
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  Elijah, John helped people recognize him.
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  Ah, this is the forerunner Scripture promised.
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  He fits the profile. It identifies him as the heir to
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  Elijah's office. And that rough clothing, it also
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  signaled his independence right from the powers that be.
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  Definitely. Camel's hair is scratchy,
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  uncomfortable. It's the total opposite of the
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  soft robes you'd find in palaces or even among the wealthy
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  priests. Jesus points us out later,
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  doesn't he? You didn't go out to see a man
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  in soft. Clothing.
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  No fine linens for him. No, it showed he wasn't
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  sponsored by the court, wasn't looking for favor from the
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  religious establishment, no broad phalacteries, no temple
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  finery. He's a desert prophet, pulpit
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  made of sand, not marble. His authority isn't
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  institutional. What about the leather belt?
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  Any significance there? It often suggested readiness,
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  being girded up for action or service.
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  A life cinched for service, you could say.
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  Not wrapped up in comfort or leisure, ready to move, ready to
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  obey. And this austerity continues
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  with his diet, locusts and wild honey.
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  Yeah, that signals theological sobriety.
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  He's living off what God provides naturally in that harsh
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  place. It removes any suspicion that
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  he's in this for personal gain. He's not peddling a message to
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  get rich or comfortable. His needs are basic, met by
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  Providence. So it's not just asceticism for
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  its own sake. His whole lifestyle reinforces
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  the message. It embodies it, his simplicity,
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  his roughness. It kind of acts like that
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  graters blade itself, shaving down pride just by his presence.
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  He lives the message of dependence and stripping away
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  pretense. The messenger's life has to
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  align with the King's message. Right.
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  So we had this authoritative herald living out his message.
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  Verses 5 and 6 tell us the response.
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  And Matthew emphasizes it was huge.
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  Yeah. Massive movement, he says.
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  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan,
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  we're going out to him. The verbs Matthew uses here,
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  they're in the imperfect tense. In Greek.
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  It suggests it wasn't just a one off surge, but a sustained
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  movement. A steady stream of people kept
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  going out to him, leaving their homes, their routines, the
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  familiar religious centers. That physical act of going out
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  seems like the first step of repentance itself.
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  It really is. It's an embodied action.
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  They're physically moving away from the old securities, the
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  religious status quo, and seeking God's word out in the
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  discomfort of the desert. The body follows the hearts new
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  direction. Repentance isn't passive, it
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  requires movement. And this movement leads them to
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  the sign they're being baptized in the Jordan.
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  This is the visible pledge. John's baptism was this specific
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  once for all prophetic washing. It was tied directly to their
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  repentance and served to prepare them for the coming one, the
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  Lord YHWH, as we saw. It's a public marker saying I'm
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  abandoning the old path. Exactly a visible sign that the
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  old agents, the old life is being left behind.
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  Now we need to be clear what John's baptism isn't, especially
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  compared to later Christian baptism.
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  Good point. How does it differ?
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  It's crucial. John's baptism is preparatory.
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  It's not the Christian baptism instituted by Christ later in
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  Matthew 28. John's baptism didn't
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  automatically grant the Holy Spirit or forgive sins in the
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  ultimate sense. So it didn't save them.
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  No, it demonstrated their acknowledged need for cleansing
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  and their commitment to turn and wait for the king.
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  It wasn't a magic ritual. The water itself didn't wash
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  away guilt. It's value depended entirely on
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  the genuine repentance and faith that represented.
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  It was the sign of the inner decision.
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  Hashtag tag, tag be the necessity of public confession.
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  But just getting baptized wasn't enough, was it?
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  Matthew adds another critical element in verse 6.
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  They were baptized while doing something else.
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  Yes, confessing their sins. This was simultaneous being
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  baptized while confessing. This verbal act is presented as
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  essential. What did that confession
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  involve? Just a general, I'm sorry.
• 18:51
  No, the sources indicate it required specific audible
• 18:54
  honesty, naming sins, not using vague language, not blaming
• 18:58
  circumstances or other people. It's what you might call
• 19:01
  covenant realism, meaning meaning being truthful before
• 19:04
  the covenant God about your failures.
• 19:06
  It honors God's truth, acknowledges the reality of the
• 19:09
  sin, and it's part of clearing that road for the Lord.
• 19:12
  You can't clear the debris without identifying what the
• 19:13
  debris is. And the sources suggest this
• 19:16
  public specific confession guards against a couple of big
• 19:20
  errors. It does.
• 19:21
  First, it guards against silent ritualism, just going through
• 19:23
  the motions. It pushes back against any idea
• 19:26
  that the baptism works automatically ex Opera operato
• 19:29
  just because you did the ACT. Like magic water?
• 19:32
  Right demanding specific spoken confession ensures the focus is
• 19:38
  on the heart's posture, the moral and spiritual reality, not
• 19:41
  just the physical. Right.
• 19:43
  Confession gives voice to the interchange.
• 19:45
  And the second era it guards against.
• 19:47
  Privatize spirituality. The idea that my relationship
• 19:50
  with God is just between me and him and my sin is nobody elses
• 19:54
  business. But John demands public
• 19:56
  confession. Yes, because sin often has
• 19:58
  public consequences and repentance before the coming
• 20:00
  king isn't meant to be hidden. While it starts with God, where
• 20:03
  sin has affected the community or caused scandal, it needs to
• 20:06
  be dealt with openly. It refuses evasion, the attempt
• 20:10
  to hide behind individualism. It aims for honesty,
• 20:13
  reconciliation, maybe even restitution, The kind of fruit
• 20:16
  John demands later. Hashtag tag, tag, tag, tag AC.
• 20:19
  The non negotiable order of repentance.
• 20:21
  OK, so to avoid those pitfalls, ritualism, private evasion, the
• 20:26
  sources show Matthew laying out a very clear sequence, a non
• 20:29
  negotiable order for how this Kingdom renewal works.
• 20:32
  Yes, the order is strict and instructive.
• 20:35
  Word out, sign right. Getting this order right is
• 20:39
  vital for telling true gospel response apart from human self
• 20:43
  effort. So first, the word that's
• 20:44
  foundational. Absolutely.
• 20:46
  John's authoritative proclamation repent for the
• 20:49
  Kingdom of heaven has drawn near that word delivered by the
• 20:52
  herald, creates the situation, provides the reason, initiates
• 20:56
  the whole thing. God speaks first.
• 20:58
  Then comes the sign. The submission to John's
• 21:00
  baptism, That's the public pledge.
• 21:02
  The visible commitment responding to the Word, It marks
• 21:04
  the allegiance to the coming king.
• 21:06
  And finally, the fruit. This is the necessary evidence
• 21:09
  that follows the changed life, the new obedience, the visible
• 21:13
  transformation that proves the repentance was real, John warns
• 21:17
  later. If there's no fruit, the
• 21:18
  profession, the ritual is just useless chaff to be burned.
• 21:22
  So the warning is don't mix up the order.
• 21:24
  You can't start with fruit like trying to do good works to earn
• 21:27
  repentance. Exactly.
• 21:29
  Or chasing activism without genuine contrition first.
• 21:33
  Or just doing the ritual, the sign without the inner reality
• 21:37
  confirmed by the word and confession that leads to empty
• 21:40
  ceremonies. Or just performing for an
• 21:42
  audience. The flow is always God's Word,
• 21:44
  creating the need and possibility, our response, and
• 21:47
  pledging allegiance to the sign and then the resulting evidence
• 21:50
  in a changed life. That's the biblical pattern
• 21:53
  Matthew lays out. Word, sign, fruit.
• 21:56
  Repentance has to be embodied truthfulness before God, public
• 21:59
  enough to crush pride, specific enough to hit the actual sins,
• 22:03
  and hopeful enough to seek cleansing where God offers it.
• 22:06
  All right, we've walked through the passage.
• 22:08
  Now let's try to bring it together, synthesizing these
• 22:10
  points through a specifically Reformed theological lens, maybe
• 22:14
  drawing on how the Westminster Confession summarizes these
• 22:17
  biblical truths. This passage is packed with
• 22:19
  doctrine. It really is.
• 22:21
  It's like seeing systematic theology lived out.
• 22:23
  First off, it powerfully shows Scripture governs WCFI.
• 22:27
  The whole event unfolds according to God's script in
• 22:29
  Isaiah 40.3. It wasn't improvised.
• 22:32
  Not at all. The Bible named the Herald,
• 22:34
  defined his message, identified the coming king as YHWH.
• 22:38
  It shows God's plan isn't random.
• 22:40
  It's revealed, structured and reliable, reinforcing the
• 22:43
  Bible's authority. John's entire role makes sense
• 22:46
  only because of that ancient prophecy.
• 22:48
  OK, second big doctrine, the Christology WCF and they've we
• 22:52
  touched on this, but it's huge. It's arguably the theological
• 22:55
  center point here. Applying those YHWH texts from
• 22:59
  Isaiah directly to Jesus confirms his full true deity.
• 23:03
  He's not just a great prophet or leader.
• 23:05
  He is the divine mediator, the God, Man King.
• 23:08
  Which means the Kingdom of Heaven is his divine
• 23:10
  administration. Exactly.
• 23:11
  It's the reign of the Incarnate Lord who has God's own authority
• 23:14
  to demand repentance. This shuts down any attempt to
• 23:17
  lessen who Jesus is. He's the fulfillment of YHW WHS
• 23:20
  promises to return. 3rd The way John frames the call repent for
• 23:26
  it reinforces the nature of repentance as grace.
• 23:28
  WCFXE, yes. The confession calls it
• 23:31
  repentance unto life, a gift, not something we achieve.
• 23:34
  It flows from seeing God's mercy in Christ, leading to new
• 23:37
  obedience. And it's a lifelong duty for
• 23:39
  believers, because sin remains. That little word for gar is key.
• 23:44
  It protects the gospel we turn because God's reign is near and
• 23:48
  powerful, not in order to make it come or earn our way in.
• 23:51
  Grace comes first, enabling the response.
• 23:54
  You can only truly grieve sin when you see the gracious King
• 23:57
  who came near. And finally, the scene with the
• 23:59
  baptism and confession gives us insight into the means of grace.
• 24:03
  WCF at CT 8, particularly about science.
• 24:08
  It really pushes back against that ex opera operato idea that
• 24:11
  the ritual works automatically requiring confession shows the
• 24:15
  sign baptism isn't the cause of pardon.
• 24:17
  It testifies to the inner work of repentance already happening.
• 24:20
  So the benefit isn't in the water itself.
• 24:22
  No, the benefit of any sign or sacrament comes through the
• 24:25
  Spirit working with the Word, and it's received by faith and
• 24:28
  genuine. Turning the sign points to the
• 24:30
  king who saves, it doesn't replace him.
• 24:32
  Hashtag tag be polemical clarifications ditching the
• 24:35
  errors. Matthew 3 seems to cut through a
• 24:37
  lot of potential errors, things we still wrestle with today.
• 24:40
  Let's clarify some of those First against moralism.
• 24:44
  Right moralism is trying to climb up to God through our own
• 24:47
  efforts, our obedience. But that repent force structure
• 24:51
  flips it. God moves first.
• 24:53
  Grace enables the command. Repentance is obeying a gift,
• 24:57
  not paying a debt. Trying to level our own pride.
• 25:00
  Hills without grace just builds new hills of self righteousness.
• 25:04
  Then there's the challenge against pragmatism.
• 25:07
  John's whole setup critiques this doesn't.
• 25:09
  It oh big time. The desert prophet in camel's
• 25:12
  hair. It kind of mocks our obsession
• 25:15
  with slick presentations, big platforms, institutional
• 25:18
  backing. God kicks off this world
• 25:20
  changing movement with none of that.
• 25:21
  No fancy marketing plan. No court sponsors, no approval
• 25:25
  from the religious elite. Renewal starts from the margins.
• 25:27
  Just a herald in the Word. It rebukes the idea that God's
• 25:30
  work depends on our clever techniques or resources.
• 25:33
  What about the other extreme against mystical subjectivism?
• 25:36
  This whole scene is anchored in objective, filled scripture.
• 25:39
  Isaiah 40. John is the voice because Isaiah
• 25:43
  said so. The wilderness isn't for private
• 25:45
  visions or chasing new revelations.
• 25:48
  John's authority is textual, derivative.
• 25:50
  It points us back to the sufficient word and the ordinary
• 25:53
  means of grace, not inward feelings or claimed experiences.
• 25:57
  The King's arrival is historically grounded, not
• 26:00
  invented. And the clear order word sign
• 26:03
  fruit pushes back against activism without contrition.
• 26:06
  Yes, if you jump straight to trying to change the world or do
• 26:10
  good deeds, fruit, without first dealing honestly with your own
• 26:13
  sin through confession, responding to the word, you've
• 26:16
  got it backwards. It becomes performative, empty.
• 26:18
  The king demands the heart be cleared first.
• 26:21
  Internal road work precedes external results.
• 26:23
  And maybe one more against therapeutic euphemism.
• 26:26
  John's message is blunt, isn't it?
• 26:27
  Repent, Confess your sins. It's not.
• 26:30
  Work on your issues or find your authentic self.
• 26:33
  The rough messenger, The stark desert, the call for specific
• 26:37
  confession. It all cuts through attempts to
• 26:39
  soften the reality of sin or shift the blame.
• 26:42
  Scripture calls rebellion rebellion, and the only way
• 26:45
  forward is through acknowledging it and turning to the King for
• 26:48
  mercy. OK, so if this is about royal
• 26:51
  road work, the application for us today has to be about letting
• 26:54
  the King's greater work in our own lives, and not just once,
• 26:58
  right? Repentance is ongoing.
• 27:00
  That's the key. It's the believers ongoing gait,
• 27:03
  the confession says. So we have to ask, how do we put
• 27:05
  this into practice? How do we move, speak and submit
• 27:08
  today in light of the King's nearness?
• 27:10
  Let's start with move, taking concrete steps away from the old
• 27:13
  life. This needs to be practical.
• 27:15
  If a certain route home tempts you, change the route.
• 27:18
  If certain websites or social media feeds pull your heart
• 27:21
  away, block them. Delete the apps.
• 27:23
  Physically place yourself where grace is found in fellowship
• 27:26
  under preaching. Turn your feet in a new
• 27:28
  direction. Yes, it means building new
• 27:31
  routines that prioritize God's Word and prayer, deliberately
• 27:34
  abandoning the old paths that led away from Him.
• 27:37
  OK, next speak that specific audible confession.
• 27:41
  We need to confess sins to God, specifically naming them
• 27:44
  honestly. Not just Lord, forgive my sins,
• 27:47
  but forgive my envy, forgive my impatience, forgive my lustful
• 27:51
  thought and where our sin has hurt others.
• 27:53
  Seek reconciliation. Yes, that often means confessing
• 27:57
  to the person wronged, asking their forgiveness, and making
• 27:59
  restitution where possible. That kind of specific honesty
• 28:03
  honors God's truth and clears the road between people, too.
• 28:06
  And finally, submit, binding ourselves to Christ's appointed
• 28:09
  means. This means submitting to the
• 28:11
  life and discipline of a faithful local church.
• 28:14
  Church membership, accountability.
• 28:16
  These aren't optional extras. They help nourish and guard our
• 28:18
  repentance. That's submitting our resources
• 28:20
  too. Absolutely.
• 28:21
  Submitting our calendars, blocking out time for God's Word
• 28:24
  and prayer. Submitting, bidding our wallets,
• 28:26
  budgeting for generosity, giving the king the right of way in our
• 28:29
  finances, crafting a life where obedience takes priority over
• 28:33
  impulse. We need accountability that gets
• 28:35
  into the details, not just the surface.
• 28:37
  So the question we need to keep asking is what crooked path in
• 28:41
  my heart needs straightening today?
• 28:43
  What Hill of Pride needs leveling now?
• 28:46
  That's the ongoing work. That's the gate of repentance.
• 28:48
  It's demanding, yes, but because the King who has drawn near is
• 28:52
  gracious, it's also filled with hope.
• 28:53
  He hasn't just sent instructions.
• 28:55
  No, he has come near himself identified as YHWH.
• 28:59
  The only rational response is to keep clearing the way for his
• 29:02
  rule in every part of our lives. Hashtag tag outro.
• 29:05
  Well, we've dug deep into Matthew 3.1 to 6 today.
• 29:09
  We've seen the staggering identity of Jesus as YHWH
• 29:13
  himself. We've looked at why renewal
• 29:15
  starts out in the wilderness at the margins, and we've examined
• 29:18
  the serious yet gracious nature of lifelong repentance.
• 29:21
  And we saw in John a model of faithful proclamation where the
• 29:25
  calling from scripture, the character of the messenger, and
• 29:27
  the content of the message all line up that non negotiable
• 29:30
  order to word first, then the sign, then the fruit.
• 29:33
  The gospel structure guards against error.
• 29:35
  That highway imagery, it's not just history, It's a summons for
• 29:39
  us right now. The king is here.
• 29:41
  We have to make room. So maybe the final thought to
• 29:43
  leave with you is this. If the sovereign reign of heaven
• 29:46
  has drawn near, as John declared, and the king is YHWH
• 29:50
  in the flesh, what does that reality demand in terms of the
• 29:54
  urgency and maybe even the joy of making room for His rule in
• 29:57
  your schedule, in your finances, in every hidden corner of your
• 30:00
  heart and mind? Let's keep yielding the right of
• 30:02
  way.